McKesson Corp. - All posts tagged McKesson Corp.

A hedge fund has filed a lawsuit against drug distribution giant McKesson Corp. alleging that it offered a higher price to one particular investor for shares in Celesio AG as it made a move to acquire the German company, a report says.

The Wall Street Journal said Magnetar Financial LLC alleges McKesson
/quotes/zigman/247413/delayed/quotes/nls/mckMCK violated German law by offering the higher price to Elliott Management Corp. Magnetar says statutes required all minority stakeholders in a company all receive the same price. If Magnetar is successful, McKesson could end up paying more than $500 million more for the company.

By all accounts — particularly those of investors — McKesson Corp. had a good quarter.

The drug distribution giant’s shares were up more than 3% to $179.85 in recent trades, a sizable gain considering McKesson’s
/quotes/zigman/247413/delayed/quotes/nls/mckMCK size and heft. It ranked as the 14th biggest company in the U.S. in 2013 and is the largest pure-play health-related firm on the Fortune 500 list.

McKesson late Monday reported earnings that managed to beat fourth-quarter and full-year estimates by 16 cents and 15 cents, respectively. In an interview with MarketWatch shortly after the profit statement, Chairman and Chief Executive John Hammergren said it was across-the-board execution that helped the San Francisco-based firm to exceed expectations.

Drug distribution giant McKesson Corp. reported third-quarter earnings after the close Thursday, and it seems the company soundly beat forecasts.

In its press release, McKesson said adjusted earnings were $1.45 a share, well short of the $1.82 forecast from analysts polled by FactSet. But McKesson noted there were several one-time charges included in that figure, and it was unclear from the company’s press release whether those should be factored into the equation.

Both McKesson Corp. and Celesio AG shares climbed Friday after it was announced McKesson managed to finally secure a deal to acquire Celesio. It was thought McKesson’s overtures for Celesio, a German-based pharmaceutical distributor, would fail as key shareholder Elliott Management — which holds 25% of Celesio — put up roadblocks to the deal. But McKesson upped its bid to 23.50 euros a share and found support from an even-bigger shareholder, Franz Haniel & Cie, which holds roughly half of Celesio shares.

In a startling turn of events, drug distribution giant McKesson Corp. says it has secured new agreements to buy German rival Celesio for roughly $32 a share.

McKesson got an agreement from German conglomerate Franz Haniel & Cie, a major shareholder in Celesio, to sell its 50% stake in the company and persuaded holdout Elliott Management to release its convertible bonds in the company.

This last-minute agreement gives McKesson the 75% stake in Celesio that it needed to secure the deal. It seemed McKesson’s attempts to acquire Celesio would be for naught earlier this month when a deadline passed for sewing up the deal expired. Elliott, a hedge fund with a 25% stake in Celesio had rejected McKesson’s overtures.

Shares of drug distribution giant McKesson Corp. tumbled Monday after the company announced its plans to buy European rival Celesio AG had fallen through.

McKesson
/quotes/zigman/247413/delayed/quotes/nls/mckMCK shares were halted just prior to the announcement, which came shortly before 1 p.m. Eastern. When trading resumed, shares plunged by more than 6% but recovered somewhat. McKesson shares were off 4%, or $7.29 to $168.15 in recent action.

Shares of Merck & Co. hit a 52-week high Monday when the pharmaceutical giant outlined plans for cutting expenses by $2.5 billion and its intent to get a “rolling submission” into the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for what it sees as a promising melanoma treatment.

Merck spiked up $2.79, or more than 5.5%, to $52.67 in recent action. The company was scheduled to present its plans at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco later in the day.

Shares of two drug distributors, the U.S.’s McKesson Corp. and Germany’s Celesio AG, surged Wednesday as the two tried to hammer out a merger deal that was being stymied by hedge fund Elliott Management, a major shareholder in Celesio.

The prospect that McKesson, 14th on the Fortune 500 list, would raise its bid from $8.3 billion for Celesio sent McKesson shares higher by nearly 6% in afternoon trades to $170.81. Celesio shares, meanwhile, jumped more than 9% to $24.50.

A number of pharmaceutical distributors and health-care information technology companies got a lift Thursday when Deutsche Bank initiated coverage on a number of firms in both sectors, many of which it rated as “buy.”

McKesson Corp., Walgreen Co., Cerner Corp. and AthenaHealth Inc. were the beneficiaries of Deutsche Bank analyst George Hill’s praise, and all shares climbed in early action.

The biggest climber was AthenaHealth, which jumped more than 4% to $131.13, up $5.40 a share. Hill recommended the stock along with Cerner and Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., which gained more than 3% to $14.72. Cerner was up more than 2% to $57.20.

It’s been a busy day on the Obamacare front, and we’ve been neglecting health stocks. A few earnings reports and developments of note:

– First, drug wholesale giant McKesson Corp.
/quotes/zigman/247413/quotes/nls/mckMCK had a double dose of good news, sending its shares toward a new all-time closing high. Shares were up nearly 5% to $149.65 in recent action.

About Health Exchange

Health Exchange guides investors to the crucial market intelligence they need to keep up with the health care industry, which makes up one-sixth of the U.S. economy. Anchored by Russ Britt, Health Exchange is the essential site for those looking for the most important news, data and analysis on the sector. You can reach Russ at Rbritt@marketwatch.com.